Life During the Depression
Hard Times in America • Women go to work – Large numbers of women entered the workforce
out of desperation• Tension towards working women • Women earned less than men
– New doors opened for women in public life • First women ever to serve in the President’s Cabinet
– Mrs. Roosevelt • Many Americans sought relief by from the pain of the
Great Depression by writing her letters• Campaigned vigorously for women and families in need
• The Dust Bowl – Kansas, Oklahoma,
Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico
– Thousands of farmers went bankrupt and had to give up their farms. • 400,000 farmers migrated
to California and became migrant workers
The Plight of Minorities
• African Americans – More than half of the African American population
were unemployed in the south • Their jobs were often taken and given to white people
– Social and political gains• NAACP worked to lessen discrimination in the labor
movement – Political life • FDR appointed a number of African Americans to
federal posts
• Native Americans – Indian New Deal Would help restore Native
American culture and heritage • Halted the sale of reservation land • Civilian Conservation Corps put 77,000 Native
Americans to work • New reservation schools• Indian Reorganization Act
– Restored traditional tribal government a– Enlarge some reservations
• Latinos – 1930 2million people of Latino or Hispanic descent
lived in the United States • Worked as small farmers, laborers, migrant workers • Great Depression deepened resentment against Mexican
Americans and many lost their jobs – Government
• The government encourage Mexican immigrant to return to Mexico • Keep from getting relief of offered benefits far below those
given to whites
• Hard times helped radical political groups gain ground in the United States during the Great Depression
• Radical political movements – Socialists and Communists vied the Great Depression
as the death of a failed system and proposed dramatic changes
– As fascism grew in Europe it gained some attention in America and placed blame on Jews, Communists, and liberals for the country’s troubles
Entertainment and the Arts • Radio and Movies
– Radio continued to grow in popularity
– Weekly 85 million people went to the movie theater to escape their troubles • Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, and The Wizard of OZ
• Images of the times – Many artists and painters
portrayed the grim realities of the times